The office as "destination", "service hotel", "relationship hub"?

Stéphane believes that this is not just a cosmetic evolution, but the testimony of a profound societal change.

We mustn't fall into the caricature of the ideal office, where the employer transforms himself into a personal concierge or takes on the role of "happyness officer": the office and the company must remain places of work, but they are also, quite simply, places of life. Given the context of the job market and the aftermath of the pandemic crisis, we need to rethink them as living spaces in their own right, integrating notions of comfort, quality of life and employee health protection.

The office has ceased to be just an office

It's a place to socialize, a symbol of the employer brand, and a place to live (sports, restaurants, wellness, meetings and exchanges).Today, work is often done asynchronously: in the morning, you manage your e-mails at home, have lunch in a rooftop restaurant, after lunch kick-offmeeting in an adapted collaborative space and come back earlier with a detour to pick up the children...

Faced with these changes in usage, large companies are looking to reduce their real estate footprint, make their offices more attractive, and find flexibility in their real estate-related contractual commitments. This is why the historic opportunity created by the pandemic crisis for all flexible offers (operated offices, coworking, business centers, etc.) has been confirmed since 2021.Stéphane confirms that operated office space is growing rapidly, and now represents 20% of the UBIQ platform's offering, with a premiumization of the market.

Why make the office a destination? An HR issue...

The office is not only a place for socializing, it is also a key factor in attracting existing employees and, above all, future recruits. HR is the key issue. Given the new balance of power in the job market, we need to make employees want to come back to the office, and create spaces where they can feel at home and develop social ties. The services developed in operated offices and coworking spaces bring the codes of hospitality and living into the office environment, to encourage employees to return to the site, retain and attract talent, and generate emotion.

Are we moving towards a more individualized relationship with work and the company?

Given the freedom given to employees to come to work or not, isn't there a risk of seeing them turn into customers or consumers like any other? Stéphane doesn't believe in the development of a clientelist tendency, but rather in the company's ability to invent a new relationship with work. However, in a context of falling unemployment, companies will have to make an effort to retain their talents, especially as surveys confirm that work plays a lesser role in French people's lives. Today, it's more the notion of free time that takes precedence over the quest for a higher income, and companies will have to take this into account. It's up to them to take action to foster attachment: develop a managerial culture, practice recognition and sharing of values, develop autonomy, support career paths and, of course, welcome employees to pleasant, well-appointed and comfortable offices offering a wide range of services, as at INSITU for example.

Now it's time to thank Stéphane for the time he devoted to me and the light he shed on the new relationship between work and the office, which is of great interest to Alumni.